The present invention relates to a system and method for storing and organizing UFDs on a storage pole, and for configuring UFDs (USB flash drives) to accommodate storage on a storage pole.
Mechanical means for organizing small items on a desktop are well-known in the art of office accessories. A common device for organizing and holding small notes is a storage pole, available from Office Depot, 2200 Old Germantown Road, Delray Beach, Fla. 33445 (shown in FIG. 1A).
In order for a device of this type to be useful, the organized items need to have a tunnel through them that is larger than the diameter of the spindle. When the organized items are pieces of paper of different sorts, the tunnel can be made in the paper upon pushing them onto the pole.
However, when using a storage pole for organizing items other than paper (or similar items which can be pierced), the tunnel in the item needs to be made in advance. A prior art example of a storage pole for items that have tunnels to enable their organization on a pole are “dome cones”, available from Goal Sporting Goods, Inc., 37 Industrial Park Road, P.O. Box 236, Essex, Conn. 06426 (shown in FIG. 1B).
UFDs are well-known in the art of digital computing as a means for portable data storage. Until recently, UFDs were relatively expensive. People would generally own a single UFD at the most. People would typically use a UFD for a variety of applications and carry the UFD with them during the day.
Recently, UFDs have become an inexpensive commodity. People can now afford to use them for dedicated purposes, and own a several UFDs. Typically, while a person would carry with him the specific UFD that he intends use, his desktop and drawers would most likely accommodate a large number of UFDs. It would be useful to have a handy and well-organized way to store UFDs, while maintaining visibility and accessibility.
A storage pole would be a convenient means for storing and organizing UFDs, if UFDs were produced with a sufficiently large tunnel around the center area of the device. Unfortunately, UFD devices are traditionally designed to be small and compact. Their circuitry is typically designed on a solid, rectangular printed circuit board. They are generally not manufactured with a sufficiently large tunnel, and cannot be drilled after production without damaging them.
For the growing community of UFD and portable data storage devices users, it would be useful to have a system for filing, organizing, sorting, and retrieving multiple UFD devices in a device similar to a storage pole.